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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTGOMERY – The Briarwood Christian Lions entered the day on Tuesday, March 18 needing a bounce-back result after a pair of defeats in a row. They ended it with an emphatic shutout against another Class 6A foe from down south.

Briarwood secured a 5-0 victory over the St. Paul’s Episcopal Saints in a neutral site game at the Montgomery YMCA to snap a two-game losing streak.

Brooklyn Barnett led the offense with two goals in the win as she walked away from the Capital City with a brace. Her fellow senior Taylor Leib continued her strong goal-scoring campaign with another goal against St. Paul’s.

The other two scores came from underclassmen as sophomore Payton Casey found the back of the net with a goal while freshman Ava Hoaglund made an impact on the match by scoring a goal in the victory.

The Lions reversed their fortunes from their last two games as they scored five goals on the night after combining for just one in their two previous losses.

Briarwood fell at home to Mountain Brook by a score of 3-1 on Tuesday, March 11 in a rematch of the 2024 Class 6A state championship game and then lost to the Chelsea Hornets in area play on Friday, March 14 by a late set piece goal that sealed the 1-0 win for the visitors at Lions Pride Stadium.

The Lions bounced back from those by defeating the Saints, who they were previously set to play on Friday, February 21. That match was cancelled after a cold snap froze most action in the Birmingham area.

However, it led to a neutral site matchup where Birmingham-based Briarwood and Mobile-based St. Paul’s could meet in the middle at the Montgomery YMCA and square off.

The Lions took the fight to the Saints in the early minutes of the match and they were rewarded with the opening goal of the evening and a 1-0 lead.

From there, Briarwood scored four more goals before the full-time whistle to make a statement against a fellow Class 6A opponent.

The Lions were also rock solid on the defensive end and didn’t allow a goal throughout the entire match, securing the clean sheet as part of the 5-0 victory.

With the win, Briarwood gets back to .500 on the year with a 5-5 record. The Lions have just one more game before a week-and-a-half-long break as they will host the Leeds Greenwave on Thursday, March 20 at 5 p.m. at Lions Pride Stadium.